HUMBLY shew unto our sovereign lord the King, the lords
spiritual and temporal, and commons in parliament assembled,
That whereas it is declared and enacted by a statute made in the
time of the reign of King Edward the First commonly called Statutum
de tallagio non concedendo, That no tallage or aid
shall be laid or levied by the King or his heirs in this realm,
without the good will and assent of the archbishops, bishops,
earls, barons, knights, burgesses, and other the freemen of the
commonalty of this realm; (2) and by authority of parliament holden
in the five and twentieth year of the reign of King Edward
the Third, it is declared and enacted, That from thenceforth no
person should be compelled to make any loans to the King against
his will, because such loans were against reason and the franchise
of the land; (3) and by other laws of this realm it is provided,
That none should be charged by any charge or imposition called a
benevolence, nor by such like charge: (4) by which the statutes
before mentioned, and other the good laws and statutes of this
realm, your subjects have inherited this freedom, That they
should not be compelled to contribute to any tax, tallage, aid or
other like charge not set by common consent in parliament.

II. Yet nevertheless, of late divers commissions directed to sundry
commissioners in several counties, with instructions, have issued;
by means whereof your people have been in divers places
assembled, and required to lend certain sums of money unto your
Majesty, and many of them, upon their refusal so to do, have
had an oath administred unto them not warrantable by the laws
of statutes of this realm, and have been constrained to become
bound to make appearance and give attendance before your privy
council and in other places, and others of them have been therefore
imprisoned, confined, and sundry other ways molested and
disquieted; (2) and divers other charges have been laid and levied
upon your people in several counties by lord lieutenants, deputy
lieutenants, commissioners for musters, justices of peace and others,
by command or direction from your Majesty, or your privy
council, against the laws and free customs of the realm.

III. And where also by the statute called The great charter
of the liberties of England, it is declared and enacted, That
no freeman may be taken or imprisoned, or be disseised of his
freehold or liberties, or his free customs, or be outlawed or exiled,
or in manner destroyed, but by the lawful judgment of his
peers, or by the law of the land.

IV. And in the eight and twentieth year of the reign of King
Edward the Third, it was declared and enacted by authority of
parliament, That no man of what estate or condition that he be,
should be put out of his land or tenements, nor taken, nor imprisoned,
nor disherited, nor put to death without being brought
to answer by due process of law:

V. Nevertheless against the tenor of the said statutes, and
other the good laws and statutes of your realm to that end provided,
divers of your subjects have of late been imprisoned without
any cause shewed; (2) and when for their deliverance they
were brought before your justices by your Majesty's writs of habeas
corpus, there to undergo and receive as the court should
order, and their keepers commanded to certify the causes of their
detainer, no cause was certified, but that they were detained by
your Majesty's special command, signified by the lords of your
privy council, and yet were returned back to several prisons,
without being charged with any thing to which they might make
answer according to the law:

VI. And whereas of late great companies of soldiers and mariners
have been dispersed into divers counties of the realm, and
the inhabitants against their wills have been compelled to receive
them into their houses, and there to suffer them to sojourn,
against the laws and customs of this realm, and to the great
grievance and vexation of the people:

VII. And whereas also by authority of parliament, in the five
and twentieth year of the reign of King Edward the Third, it is
declared and enacted, That no man should be forejudged of life
or limb against the form of the great charter and the law of the
land; (2) and by the said great charter and other the laws and
statutes of this your realm, no man ought to be adjudged to death
but by the laws established in this your realm, either by the customs
of the same realm, or by acts of parliament: (3) and whereas
no offender of what kind soever is exempted from the proceedings
to be used, and punishments to be inflicted by the laws and statutes
of this your realm: nevertheless of late time divers commissions
under your Majesty's great seal have issued forth, by which
certain persons have been assigned and appointed commissioners
with power and authority to proceed within the land, according
to the justice of martial law, against such soldiers or mariners,
or other dissolute persons joining with them, as should commit
any murder, robbery, felony, mutiny or other outrage or misdemeanor
whatsoever, and by such summary course and order as is
agreeable to martial law, and as is used in armies in time of war,
to proceed to the trial and condemnation of such offenders, and
them to cause to be executed and put to death according to the law
martial:

VIII. By pretext whereof some of your Majesty's subjects have
been by some of the said commissioners put to death, when and
where, if by the laws and statutes of the land they had deserved
death, by the same laws and statutes also they might, and by no
other ought to have been judged and executed:

IX. And also sundry grievous offenders, by colour thereof
claiming an exemption, have escaped the punishments due to
them by the laws and statutes of this your realm, by reason that
divers of your officers and ministers of justice have unjustly refused
or forborn to proceed against such offenders according to
the same laws and statutes, upon pretence that the said offenders
were punishable only by martial law, and by authority of such
commissions as aforesaid: (2) which commissions, and all other of
like nature, are wholly and directly contrary to the said laws and
statutes of this your realm:

X. They do therefore humbly pray your most excellent
Majesty, That no man hereafter be compelled to make or
yield any gift, loan, benevolence, tax, or such-like charge,
without common consent by act of parliament; (2) and that
none be called to make answer, or take such oath, or to
give attendance, or be confined, or otherwise molested or
disquieted concerning the same, or for refusal thereof;
(3) and that no freeman, in any such manner as is beforementioned,
be imprisoned or detained; (4) and that your
Majesty would be pleased to remove the said soldiers and
mariners, and that your people may not be so burthened
in time to come; (5) and that the aforesaid commissions,
for proceeding by martial law, may be revoked and annulled;
and that hereafter no commissions of like nature
may issue forth to any person or persons whatsoever to be
executed as aforesaid, lest by colour of them any of your
Majesty's subjects to destroyed, or put to death contrary to
the laws and franchise of the land.

XI. All which they most humbly pray of your most excellent
Majesty as their rights and liberties, according to
the laws and statutes of this realm; and that your Majesty
would also vouchsafe to declare, That the awards, doings
and proceedings, to the prejudice of your people in any of
the premisses, shall not be drawn hereafter into consequence
or example; (2) and that your Majesty would be
also graciously pleased, for the further comfort and safety
of your people, to declare your royal will and pleasure,
That in the things aforesaid all your officers and ministers
shall serve you according to the laws and statutes of this
realm, as they tender the honour of your Majesty, and the
prosperity of this kingdom. Qua quidem petitione lecta &
plenius intellecta per dictum dominum regem taliter est responsum
in pleno parliamento, viz. Soit droit fait come est desire.

The Founders' Constitution
Volume 5, Amendment I (Petition and Assembly), Document 3http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/amendI_assemblys3.htmlThe University of Chicago Press